The Very Hungry Vel'Koz
by ILoveEpikMeme
Summary: In the light of the moon, a little pile of ash lay on the ground. On one of what the indigenous intelligent species called a "Sunday morning", the warm sun came up, and a not-so-little void monster burst out of the ashes. He started to look for some food. Each day of the week, he disintegrated a town for the knowledge within. But he was still hungry.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: These Aren't The Life Forms You're Looking For.

The small creature was squealing as he wrapped it progressively tighter in his embraces. There was no point in wasting his void energies for something as insignificant as this frail animal. The barbed texture of his upper appendages rasped against the hairless beast like sandpaper, and was scraping the skin off the flesh, the flesh off the bones, the bones into dust. Its metal casing could not defend it against his grasp. He observed its pitiful, failing responses as its body was crushed, organs failing and limbs snapping, until there was nought remaining but a mangled husk of what was once alive. Its crude metallic weapon lay in the grass where the "human" had dropped it after it had been caught, but Vel'Koz had seen many like it in his time in Valoran. It was nothing new to him.

' _Hmmm. A standard reaction to bodily destruction._ ' Vel'Koz noted idly.

He let the corpse drop to the grass below with a resounding, meaty thump, having no further use for it. What else could it possibly teach him? All of these feeble creatures acted the same. They may appear different physically, of course, but to the huge purple void monster there was no major biological difference. They all ran; they all screamed; and they all died. Some fought back as they were caught, and some understood they were lost. He didn't find joy in the slaughter, yet nor was he repulsed by beholding their death. It was the information that their bodies contained for which he lusted…

Yet he had exhausted this resource. There was nothing left for him here.

" _What is my purpose now?_ "

He pondered. He was disturbed by the fact that this was the only question he had ever encountered that could not be solved by disintegrating an object: that was the only method he'd known that could sate his hunger. Ever since he'd discovered the rift between this new world and the void and entered into the harsh light of what the most prolific indigenous species called "the sun", he had captured, destroyed and examined all he had come across, and had discovered a novel piece of information each time he had. He had been particularly intrigued by the significant intelligence of the "humans", but even their civilized lifestyle eventually become droll and uninteresting, their wars petty, their cities identical.

He had even found a consistent range of values for their melting points.

So it was that he came to the conclusion of discovering a new purpose in life. He could not return to the void: whilst he knew how to summon a void rift and travel through, there was even less left for him in the darkness of his home than in this bright world. However, he could not simply give up his search for information: it was all that he had ever craved. There must be something new for him to discover somewhere on this world: he simply had to search for it.

He must know more.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A New Hope

As Vel'Koz drifted over the terrain, he directed his mind to what new endeavour he could put his efforts into. There was nothing for him to learn about the biology of the different species on this planet, of course, but could there be another aspect of these life forms' insignificant existences that he could examine?

A quick grey streak crossed his path, and Vel'Koz, swift as one of the tube-like creatures that infested this place that the species here called "snakes", calculated its trajectory and intercepted it with a beam of void energy, disintegrating the animal as it was disappearing into the "trees". He learnt nothing new from the creature, but there was no harm in trying: though he was hunting for a new purpose in life, he still continued to destroy all in his path, just in case he could find a single additional secret about these beasts that had been hidden from him.

After having annihilated scores of these animals and found absolutely nothing new from them, water had begun to fall from the large clouds of moisture in the air, as it sometimes did on this planet. Through the light veil of liquid, Vel'Koz could see a settlement of humans in the distance, perched at the crest of a hill. In the past, this would have excited him immensely, for it was always intriguing to test how they would react to his sudden appearance and rather rigorous search for information. However, none of them ever survived preliminary testing, so it dawned on him that he should examine the humans using alternative methods.

As he focused his primary eye upon the village, he noticed some of the population flapping their "mouths" at each other from under the cover of some of the structures as they seemed wont to do. From his first arrival here, Vel'Koz had always found this strange: what purpose could this serve? It was somewhat of a mystery to him. His first thought on this observation was communication, but if that were so, why was so much discussion needed? Were their languages simply inefficient at conveying large amounts of material? Rubbing his tentacles together in anticipation, and scratching his head with his last, he decided on a new approach to data acquisition: for the moment, he would observe the humans without being present, and obtain the knowledge about their behaviour in this way. Creating an intrusion would only mean that the samples started the incessant screaming and crying, and Vel'Koz was tired of hearing such pitiful noises. Therefore, he dug his appendages into the soft, moist earth, and watched the humans from a distance.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Vel'Koz' Creed: Revelations

He never tired of the wave of elation that rode through him whenever a new revelation occurred, and considering the sizeable length of time between this and his last discovery, it was all the sweeter. The rain had abated during his observation, and at some point he had come to the realization that they did indeed use their language for communication, but it was not at all inefficient: they simply discussed unimportant matters, such as their hypocritical distaste for the liquid falling from the sky (considering their bodies required it to survive), their boasting about the growth of their repulsive offspring, and their strange relationships with each other. He had pieced together what each of the sounds of their language meant before this point and, therefore knew it thoroughly and could read the language through the movement of their "lips", but he had never bothered to try to see how these words were strung together before.

Partly because he had not paid it any attention and also as the life forms apparently found it difficult to communicate coherently during dissection.

Vel'Koz resolved that he would attempt communication with the humans. It was something that he had never attempted, choosing to obliterate the creatures for his knowledge, yet now he understood that this technique was flawed. It showed him all about their biology, that was true, and how they reacted to his examinations, but nothing about how they acted to each other. It appeared that their existence wasn't as Vel'Koz originally thought: their sole purpose, arguably, was not purely the continuation of their race, but something else. They found enjoyment in the nurture of their offspring, that was true, but as did most other creatures on this world. What interested Vel'Koz was the fact that they also seemed to entertain each other through mystifying actions such as moving a spherical object around with their feet, drinking peculiar beverages that inhibited brain function, and, of course, they conversed incessantly. Could these humans hold the secret for the new purpose in his life? Whilst he had uncovered that he could pursue an understanding of the humans' actions to satisfy his curiosity, he knew that, as with his biological knowledge, eventually he would run dry of new content. He pondered the games that some played in the village: they were always completed in the same way, following the same apparent rules. It was… a routine.

An entertainment routine.

One which, with his tentacle-eye coordination, Vel'Koz could easily replicate.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Many Meetings

The first terrifying aspect the villagers noticed of the monster that hovered high above the ground was his huge size: it towered over their tallest houses by several meters, dwarfing all around it. Crackling purple energy danced and dazzled between the tips of its huge segmented tentacles, setting fire to all that it caressed. Its piercing eyes withered all beneath its gaze. Some tried to run, but the majority stood as still as a sheep in a cart's headlights. Where was there to run to? They'd heard tales of this creature from bedraggled, dead-eyed refugees from the cities the monster had reaped. They knew its capabilities, and knew that there was very little use running if it were already this close. Lovers held each other close, and families huddled together at the monster's mercy.

The second terrifying aspect that some of the more perceptive villagers noticed was the crude balls grasped in his tentacles.

" _Greetings, simple humans. I am known as Vel'Koz._ "

He spoke down to the villagers. He had seen this was the way they introduced themselves to one another on their first meeting, and so he decided to emulate this to allay suspicion.

Some of the people exchanged glances. None of them had ever heard that it could talk before, much less had a name. If anything, that made the situation even more horrifying: That it was intelligent meant that it was not a savage beast killing for food or self-defence. It knew what it was doing, and had slaughtered countless towns by conscious choice.

Alot of the children were crying. A few of the men and women were, too.

Vel'Koz chose to assume that this was because his appearance was different to theirs, and made them uneasy. He therefore decided that his greeting had not had the desired effect, and subsequently determined that he must ingratiate himself with the locals quickly by performing his routine, else the operation may not be salvagable.

" _I have observed your existences, and understand that you enjoy entertainment. I have devised such a routine specifically developed for maximum enjoyment. Observe."_

The task was easy enough to do, so it only required one of his secondary eyes to make sure it was done correctly. His other eyes were used to guage the human's reactions. As the balls travelled over from one limb to the other, blackened with soot by his innate void energy, the villagers eyed each other nervously. Was it toying with them? They expected terrible, burning agony, huge purple lasers that heralded horrible mutilation and death to all that it touched. Not… whatever this was.

Somehow, this was worse.

Vel'Koz noted their suspicion had been anything but assuaged: if anything, it had been intensified. He had been sure his demonstration of coordination would win the minds of the villagers to his cause. Had his attempts had failed? It was possible. He was not ready to give up yet, however. He believed that there was still a chance of integrating himself into their lives and studying their behaviours up close.

As he was pondering this, one of his secondary eyes caught a female human figure striding through the crowd from the centre of the town. Vel'Koz noted she showed no signs of fear: she walked with serene grace, and wore a garment of red and white cloth. She drew the eyes of the humans in the crowd, and was plainly seen as one with great aesthetic merit, but these traits were nothing that he had not found before. However, he was intrigued by the addition of a tail and ears that Vel'Koz would usually have associated with what the humans called a "fox". He felt a growing sense of eagerness over the knowledge this one's body would contain, as he'd never seen anything like it; but he was still attempting to integrate himself into the locals and learn their ways, so he refrained from disintegrating her there and then.

Besides, he reasoned, he could always do it later, if she was still around.

"These villagers are under my protection", the female purred softly as she stroked her own tail and looked up at him under hooded eyes, "And I do not take kindly to your intrusion."

Vel'Koz, continuing to entertain the village who were watching their exchange, leaned down until his primary eye was less than a meter from the female's face. He made sure to look into her eyes for a prolonged period of time, for he had observed that eye contact between humans built trust and friendship. This one seemed more interested in him than the rest, though her eyes betrayed a small amount of fear that had, at first, been masked by her confident stance. Maybe he could become her "friend", and hence allow her to connect him to the rest of the village and find his new purpose in life.

" _Greetings, strange human. I am known as Vel'Ko-"_

Before he could finish his greeting, the unusual human did something queer with her facial features, and placed her open palm beneath her chin. As she blew out a gust of air from her lungs, a bolt of pink energy in the shape of a blood-pumping organ hit Vel'Koz directly into his eye. He instantly analysed the composition of the spell that was attempted on him, determining its intent; she meant to render him immobilized with what the humans called "lust" for her, and hence make him unable to fight back. He assumed that the female would then have tried to kill him. Thankfully, Vel'Koz was exceedingly large so the spell effects were less concentrated and, being void-native, had a stronger will than the creatures that this female would usually have used this spell on, and could ignore its effects.

He couldn't completely ignore it, however.

In the blink of an eye, he dropped the entertainment routine. The subduing of this female was a higher priority. He drew his tentacles swiftly around her limbs and lifted her bodily into the air. The female gasped as she was suspended above the ground in front of his face. She struggled, for a time. After a while of trying to wriggle her way out of his grasp, and succeeding in only causing the abrasion of her limbs on his rough-textured tentacles, the female stopped and hung her head.

"Alright, alright, you win. Please, don't f… do anything… to the villagers. You can… uh… take me."

The female muttered as she looked up at him, locks of fine black hair hanging in front of her slitted eyes like "curtains", as the humans called them. Looking into her face and at her body splayed out in front of him, Vel'Koz felt some alien urges that had never occurred to him before. However, he brushed them off as the aftereffects of the spell the female had cast on him. It would wear off in time.

" _Take you where? I wish to learn the ways of the humans. I needed to restrain you so you would not continue to give me resistance. Is there a place that we must go to learn these things? A shrine of teaching? Tell me."_

The female raised her head and cocked it to one side, eyes half closed in what Vel'Koz recognized as a sign of confusion.

"So you're not going to…?"

The female blushed and looked away. Was it just him, or did she look slightly…

Disappointed?

The female gave his body another appraising glance from underneath those long, dark eyelashes. She seemed particularly interested in his tentacles.

"It's just… I've heard so many stories about what you did in the towns that you destroyed. What you did to the… to the women, in particular."

Vel'Koz did not understand what the female was trying to tell him. Maybe he did not understand this communication after all. It was exhilarating to know that there were some nuances and hidden meanings that he must learn.

" _I assimilated them for information, just as I did with the males._ "

The female muttered something under her breath about her 'knowing that it wasn't true'. She then looked back at him, staring straight into his primary eye.

"So… wait. You want to learn how to act like a human? It might be a bit difficult when you look like that. So, are you stopping the whole disintegrating thing?"

" _Indeed. I require a new purpose in life. Whilst I still seek knowledge, I have decided to apply a different method of doing so. I wish to understand deeper than physical biology: I wish to perceive the nature of these humans and their relationships with each other. Disintegration cannot detect these things."_

"So, wait. You learn about things by deconstructing them? So all those people were only killed so you could learn about them?"

The female looked at him in revulsion. She clearly did not approve of his methods. He thought it would be best to placate her a bit.

" _I thought it a necessary sacrifice. However, it matters not: I am no longer using such methods of information extraction."_

He left out the fact that he was still willing to acquire information from her the usual way, considering she was a biological anomaly and would yield large amounts of knowledge.

" _Instead, I require a mentor to teach me. Could you assist me?"_

Vel'Koz looked to the female in anticipation. As he waited for her response, in his secondary eyes, he noted that the villagers, having heard their exchange and no longer being awed by his entertainment routine, had gone back to their homes. Not that they weren't still suspicious of him; many still stared out their windows as if expecting him to destroy them for no obvious reason. He found it rather absurd. Whilst a majoirty of them still seemed to be scared of his presence, a few foolhardy children, ignoring their parents' scolding, took turns daring each other to touch some of Vel'Koz' tentacles. He zapped them idly to scare them off, accidentally killing one of them for no apparent reason, before returning his attention to the female as the other children ran off screaming. Thankfully, the female was too busy thinking on his proposal to notice this slight blunder.

"I… I guess I could help you. It's not like I have a choice or anything, is there?" She forced a smile up at him. For whatever reason, she had clearly overcome her distaste for his extraction methods.

Vel'Koz noted that, whilst she did have a choice to not help him, her alternative option involved her immediate destruction. Considering that she appeared to be in a more docile state than when he first arrived, he opted not to mention this, knowing that it would only make her more agitated, and as a show of what the humans called "trust", he lowered her slowly to the ground and released her from his grasp.

The female shivered as the tentacles untangled themselves from around her legs, and brushed herself off quickly, pushing her hair out of her face and back down on her head, her ears twitching back into place as her perfect hands ran over them. She still seemed to be glancing uneasily at his tentacles.

Or was it longingly? He could not discern her facial expression well enough to know.

"I guess I should introduce myself, considering you've already done so. I'm Ahri."

She held out her hand in front of her, palm outstretched and facing to the side, the slight breeze in the air causing her garment to billow to one side and hug her arm's supple shape on the other.

Vel'Koz looked down at Ahri's hand and its perfectly painted nails, unsure of what she was doing. He had never come across this ritual before. Noticing his apparent confusion, Ahri giggled to herself before playfully stating:

"It's a human custom to shake a person's hand when they first meet, you know. We may as well start our lessons straight away."

Wordlessly nodding, Vel'Koz slid one of his appendages round and wrapped the tip of it round Ahri's hand a few times, and also a way up her arm to make sure of a stable grip. Her eyes widened at the soft feel slithering over her skin: whilst his tentacles had a barbed texture near his body, at the end meter or so they had a smooth, almost slimy consistency, so as to channel the void energies through his tips with minimum resistance. He noticed Ahri perspiring slightly as he shook her hand up and down lightly for a couple of seconds, and then waited for further instruction, tentacle still wrapped tight around her limb.

"All right… You… You can let go now, p-please." Ahri stuttered. She appeared slightly panicked about something, sweat glistening from her forehead, drops sliding down her perfectly formed cheeks, and Vel'Koz found the alien thoughts returning unbidden once again, whispering encouragement for some rather primal actions that had no real reproductive use, considering how biologically different their bodies were.

He really needed to get her to reverse the effects of that spell.

But that could wait. For now, he did as he was told, and carefully unwound his grip from her hand. He felt like she would trust him more if he followed her instructions. She bit her lip as he did so, and Vel'Koz picked up a quiet moan that she seemed to be trying her hardest to withhold. After the tentacle had withdrawn, she turned away to the side for a second and drew a deep breath, her chest rising and falling captivatingly. Her head moved from side to side, noticing the people watching through their windows. She seemed uneasy.

"If you want to learn how humans behave, come with me. We're leaving. I don't like drawing this much… attention."

" _As you wish._ " Vel'Koz croaked in response, voice echoing between the houses. He was feeling elated that he'd finally started on his way to learning about how humans interacted, and curious as to how much more he couldn't discover by simply disintegrating it. He would have to put his mind to it.

Ahri tottered off away from the village with decidedly less grace than she'd first arrived with, and glanced back every few seconds to make sure the huge void monster was following. The villagers watched from behind their windows and door frames as the tentacled nightmare drifted out the town, humming to himself softly.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: First Contact

The "sun" was dropping below the horizon and out of sight when Ahri finally told him that she was stopping for the night. Vel'Koz assumed this was to partake in the strange "sleep" ritual these creatures did that, for some reason, appeared to replenish their mental capabilities. For the entire day of travelling since leaving the outskirts of the village, they had been surrounded by vegetation, and hadn't seen signs of another human.

The female still seemed agitated, however, though whether that was due to Vel'Koz' close presence or some other reason unknown to him he could not say. As she lay down against a tree trunk off out of sight of the gravel path they had been wandering down, she glanced over at him and opened her mouth slightly as if to say something to him, before deciding against it and closing her eyes to attempt initiation of her "sleep".

Vel'Koz was unsure of what to do at this stage, considering that as a void life form he did not require sleep. Besides that, he had no eyelids, so couldn't even pretend to attempt to sleep if he wanted to, so he resolved instead to watch Ahri to see if he could understand better the nuances of being human.

"S… Stop doing that," Ahri mumbled softly, "it's really weird."

Vel'Koz noted that her eyes were still closed, and was startled. Did the humans have another sense that he had not yet discovered?

" _How do you know what I am doing?_ " Vel'Koz asked.

"You've been staring at me all day, and you're probably doing it now. Give it a break."

" _I apologise if I was being rude. I do not know your human customs._ "

Ahri slid one eye open and looked back up at him from her position up against the tree. She sat up slowly and arched her back, stretching her arms out to either side, before pushing herself off from the tree groggily.

"I wasn't tired anyway, I guess." She murmured to herself as she turned to face him, legs crossed and arms out behind her so as to angle herself to be looking up at his floating form, and peered at his angular visage, evaluating him. Her tails swished back and forth behind her like so many waves of water.

"Listen. I got a confession to make. I'm… uh…" she swallowed and looked at the ground as if thinking carefully on what to say next. "I'm not really a human. It's complicated but," she sighed before continuing, "I don't really know much about human interaction either."

" _Aside from the obvious differing features you seemed to be similar biologically. Do humans not share their culture with one another? You seemed to understand them well enough."_ Vel'Koz' fascination was obviously evident to her. She bit her lip before continuing, pausing every few seconds to think about what she was saying.

"I mean, I understand their culture, but I'm not a part of their society. I can try to talk to them but I don't really belong. They know I'm different." Vel'Koz could see she was getting mildly emotional. "I was once a… a fox. You can kinda see that from my… uh…" She ran her hand slowly over her flicking tail as a demonstration, and looked downcast. "I managed to gain my human form by absorbing human males' life essence after… incapacitating them, of sorts, but it feels terrible to murder simply to attain something I desire, so eventually I simply took small amounts of their essence to keep my form and left them with their life." She looked pointedly at him before continuing.

"Even though I've stopped killing my victims, word somehow got out about what I once did to people. I was told there were ways to gain my humanity without killing others, but none of them ever worked, so I still remain as you see me. I try to be the humans' friends, to show them I'm not dangerous, but they don't listen. They're just afraid of me now.

"You might not've noticed, but before you came to that village I wasn't exactly accepted there. The only reason they didn't seem afraid of me when you were there is because you're a lot scarier than I am." She chuckled sadly to herself, staring off at a point past Vel'Koz, ears dropping back flat to her head. "I find it kinda ironic that you're the best friend I've had since becoming a human, and you're not even one. I don't think I can teach you much about humans. The only reason I told you I _could_ was because I thought you… you would kill me if I didn't. In all honesty, I don't know what I am anymore. I'm neither accepted by foxes nor by humans..." Her eyes widened as she registered how much she had just told him. She lapsed into silence and pursed her lips, refusing to look at him, and was clearly somewhere between embarrassment and despondency. "Sorry, I'm babbling a bit. I know you probably don't want to hear this stuff."

Vel'Koz took that time to try something new. He'd seen this done by humans before to cheer others up when he was observing the village and thought that this was an apt time for it, so he extended a tentacle round and patted her back softly in sympathy. As his appendage slapped wetly against the bare skin behind her shoulders, she tensed her muscles and flushed red, but allowed it to continue, shuddering slightly on each damp impact. After a while of this, he withdrew his tentacle, remembering how she seemed uncomfortable with prolonged contact.

Considering how much she was suddenly sweating, it seemed that she was uncomfortable with any contact with him whatsoever. Was it just that he'd touched her without announcing his intentions? Vel'Koz found his first thought sad for some reason. He felt the urge to touch her some more. A distressingly strong urge. He was alarmed to note that the effects of her spell seemed to have only increased over time, and it took quite a lot of mental effort to quell the pressure. He was about to mention the spell to her- since he wanted to learn about its composition and see if he could get her to reverse it- but somehow couldn't bring himself to. Instead, he thought he could try to brighten her mood.

" _We… are not so different, you and I, you know,"_ Vel'Koz rumbled. Ahri gave him an appraising glance, cheeks still a bright red. " _We may appear dissimilar, but we are both outcasts. We long for purpose. I am… touched… that you consider me to be your friend._ "

Ahri seemed taken aback by this. Vel'Koz himself was quite astonished that what he had just said was true: he didn't feel as if he was simply around the creature to learn about her humanity. He had actually grown to appreciate her company in the short time she had known her, insular though she was, and see her as more than just a vessel of information. Whether this was due to the spell's effects or some other factor he was unsure of, but he did know he was enjoying talking with her. He had never formed an attachment to anything on this world before.

They had never seemed to live long enough.

Was this what friendship felt like? What humanity felt like? It was… intoxicating.

Vel'Koz was jolted out of his reverie by Ahri opening her mouth and exhaling a large breath, which he recognized as being one of the native species' "yawns". If Vel'Koz had an eyebrow, remembering what she had said earlier, it would have been lifted. Ahri had the grace to look a little sheepish.

"Ok. Maybe… I was a little bit tired." She gestured with her hand by holding her index finger and thumb a small distance apart as she flopped back down on the grass where she had been before, and lay against the same tree, facing up towards him as he stared down at her from above. "And I'm guessing you don't need sleep, right?" Ahri asked with a shy smile up at him. Vel'Koz only nodded in agreement with her statement. "Right… well, I'm gonna try to get some. You can… do whatever it is you do instead of sleeping." Vel'Koz took the hint, and backed off a small distance to give her some space so she would not feel uneasy.

He settled down and watched her in the dark as she lay prone on her back, chest rising and falling enchantingly. There was a light breeze in the air that whispered delicately through the leaves and grass, and rippled through her hair and across her body, causing goose bumps to appear all across her perfect skin. She shivered slightly and rubbed her arms a bit before curling up into a ball, with her back to the wind. Vel'Koz knew these as signs that she was getting cold. As a void being, he was used to extreme temperatures, and could transfer energy to and from himself easily, but he knew from his testing that the animals on this earth had nowhere near the temperature tolerance or control that he did. He wanted to warm her up, yet didn't wish to cause restlessness.

" _You appear to be cold. Would you be averse to me warming you up?"_ Vel'Koz stayed where he was, not wanting to intrude. Ahri was still shivering and lay silently as she seemed to not have heard what he had said. He was about to ask her again when she murmured faintly:

"Sure… I'm a bit… c-chilly."

He hovered down so that his body was almost touching the ground, and positioned himself so that his body was blocking the wind. He extended his tentacles to hover above her prone, vulnerable form. He channelled his void energy into his tentacle tips to maintain a temperature of that just above the average human body, and kept them a few uniform centimetres above her, even though the spell was causing difficulty in preventing himself from reaching down and touching her. His self-enforced restraint was maddening, so he distracted himself by observing as she gradually stopped shivering and her breathing became less erratic. He did, however, note that she seemed to not yet have gone to sleep. Was something stopping her? What was wrong?

He was still pondering this when he felt Ahri grasp one of his tentacles tightly so as not to slip on the wet texture, and pulled it down to touch between her shoulder blades, before draping the rest of it down across her shoulders and neck. She left her hand around the tentacle, keeping him in place, and, understanding her desire, he lowered his other appendage to cover her legs, wrapping around it. She finally seemed content, and eventually drifted off to sleep. Maybe she was not so ill-disposed to contact as he had first thought.

It was only after Vel'Koz had protectively covered Ahri from the cold wind's bite for a while when he realised that he could have just started a fire for her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Eyes Never Lie

The sun was high in the sky by the time Ahri woke up, her eyes squinting to adjust to the dappled, filtered light streaming in through the trees above. Vel'Koz had observed her all through the night, and it appeared that she mumbled seemingly random phrases in her sleep. She had seemed to be asking for more, but what she wanted more _of_ Vel'Koz hadn't been sure about.

She also had had a profound fascination with sucking on the tip of his tentacle, which seemed rather strange to him. He decided not to mention it to her however, as it seemed inconsequential.

Whilst Ahri was slowly coming round to full consciousness, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and yawning, Vel'Koz tried to comprehend his new-found feelings for the strange creature who sat beneath him. In the short time he'd known her, he had taken pleasure from her company, from discovering things about her past and her intriguing personality. Now that he knew what it was like, at least a little, to be human, and understood what it meant to have a friend, he felt oddly content.

What he didn't understand was the urges that he was feeling, that had been only growing stronger over time. Surely her spell couldn't have lasted this long? Surely her magic couldn't be so strong as to compel him, who was of the strongest will, into a frenzy of primal lust and desire?

It was at this point that he registered he didn't really want Ahri to reverse the spell effect anymore.

He resolved to find out more about these feelings and their origin for humans. He had suspicions drawn from his previous tests, but he wasn't really sure. However, he suspected he had to slide the topic into their conversation subtly; else he may draw attention to himself and his queer predicament.

His attention was drawn back to Ahri as she hopped to her feet nimbly.

"Listen. You mentioned something about… wanting to learn about humans?" She looked at him quizzically.

" _That is correct,_ " Vel'Koz replied.

"Well, uh, seeing as I can't really help you with that, I thought I may as well direct you to people who might be willing to treat with you.

"It's called the League of Legends. It's where I went to for a time, when I was told I could become human without any more unnecessary deaths. They didn't help me much, but they might be able to help you. They're very accepting there. I've got nothing to do myself, so I may as well come with you. It's not too far away; a couple of days' travel, if that. How about it?"

" _If you believe that to be the best course of action, I agree. Lead the way."_

After a slight pause and a nod, Ahri wandered off through the trees back in the direction of the path they had been walking down the evening before. Vel'Koz followed after her, and hovered beside her as they traced their way down the twisting, vegetation lined road.

"So, I told you a lot about myself last night. In hindsight, maybe a bit too much," she muttered the last part, glancing over at him almost shyly.

There was a slight moment of awkward silence which neither of them deigned to break, before she continued on.

"So uh… I was thinking you could tell me some stuff about… about you?"

Vel'Koz shifted his head to look at her quizzically into her eyes. She reddened marginally, and, not looking where her feet were going, tripped over a root that lay across their path. He helped Ahri to her feet, which only served for her to blush further.

"I-I mean, we've got nothing else to do, and I'm interested in where someone like you could have come from. If… If that's not a rude question to ask you." She forced a small laugh, but it sounded strained, and once more she lapsed into silence and looked at him expectantly.

What was there to tell her? Life in the void was nothing like life out on this earth. Would she understand the experience such an abstract existence? Vel'Koz didn't think so. However, he realised he might be able to eventually change conversation topics to a direction favouring his queries about the human mating process and, hence, the emotions involved, so decided to try explaining it to her.

" _I come from a world known only to you as the Void. It is… nothing like you could imagine."_

Ahri seemed surprised that Vel'Koz had actually responded, but started listening intently nonetheless.

" _I have been on this earth for but a few months. I do not know how long I was in the void before I found my way here. Time does not work in the same way in the Void, so I could have been there for months or years, decades or countless millennia. I have known no beginning, so I have no frame of reference, though for as long as I been conscious of my own thoughts, I have wanted to learn about everything. To understand everything. I do not know why this is my prime desire, but I have followed it regardless. I have known no other existence. Originally, I thought that the only way to achieve full understanding of an object was to destroy it, take it apart, and know its composition._

" _It was only recently, after meeting you, that I discerned my folly. There are things that cannot be learnt by annihilation."_

His admission of this statement seemed to please Ahri, but she seemed confused about something.

"Wait, so… you mentioned you did not know a beginning. You mean to say you don't remember when you were young?"

" _I was never young. I have always been as you see me. Void native beings have neither parents nor siblings. We know only constant competition for our own desires to come to fruition, for as long as we live. Your world is a lot less harsh than mine was."_

He realised that now would be a good moment for it. He couldn't wait any longer.

" _I must confess, I do not understand the reason for the beings on your planet's continued existence. You have feelings of… of lust… meant to encourage r-reproduction in order to maintain your numbers, do you not?"_

Ahri seemed marginally uncomfortable with his question, and put back by his hesitation. She was walking slightly ahead of him, and he was captivated by her tails swishing from side to side with each step as she walked onwards. He drew his eyes up to the small of her back, then down, following the curve of her torso, past her waist to her long, supple legs. He had to physically hold himself back from grabbing her.

If he had a lip, he would have been biting it. The void lightning arcing from his tentacles was becoming noticeably more frequent and powerful as he got more and more excited.

Ahri stopped walking and turned to face him. She looked decidedly flustered and confused.

"Well, not… not me _personally…_ but yeah, in general. Don't you already know this stuff from your tests you'd done, though?"

Maybe he hadn't been as subtle as he'd thought. She was more perceptive than he had anticipated.

She seemed to think about what exactly he had said, and moved her lips soundlessly, looking past Vel'Koz, ears twitching back and forth. Whilst she wasn't looking and, to Vel'Koz' own chagrin, though he was trying his hardest to prevent it, one of his tentacles was slowly snaking out over grass and gravel to grasp at her exposed ankle.

He couldn't stop himself anymore.

When the tentacle slithered around her ankle and began to wind slowly up her leg, her pupils dilated slightly in shock, her ears went flat against her head, and her eyes shot over to him.

"What are you…?"

" _I'm sorry, I… I can't… stop…"_ Vel'Koz uttered as another of his tentacles started wrapping around her waist and up her torso, grasping at her clothes, trying desperately to pull them off. His lust was overpowering most else on his mind. He could think of nothing else but Ahri, and how long it had felt like he had waited for this moment.

Ahri was starting to look panicked. As the third tentacle contacted lightly around her neck, she gasped, eyes screwing shut. Through his haze of desire, he noted faintly that she obviously knew what was coming but, as she had discovered in the village, was powerless to stop it.

After a short amount of time, her eyes instantly snapped open wide, and she looked directly into his primary eye's dilated pupil.

"My Charm! Y-y-you're still… The village…" Ahri moaned as more and more of her body was wrapped in Vel'Koz' embrace. Her feet left the ground as Vel'Koz slowly rotated her back away from him so that her legs were facing towards him. She tilted her head behind her and tried in vain to suppress her gasps. With one tentacle round her legs and one supporting her neck and back, his final tentacle that was around her torso continued to go to work on getting rid of the clothing that was Vel'Koz' only physical barrier between the two of them. Whilst he was trying his hardest to remove her clothes, he didn't want to hurt her (she was still his friend, after all), so he made sure to take care not to do anything too forcefully that might cause pain.

He had just succeeded in ripping a small hole, and was widening it gradually, revealing more and more skin, when he noticed that, through her agitated panting, she was manipulating a sphere of blue energy.

Vel'Koz considered restraining her arms, but, in his impassioned state, thought better of it. He had more important things to do.

He had ripped a hole clean through the red cloth that had once clung so deliciously to her body, a rift from upper chest down to the skirt at legs, and was about to slide it off her, savouring the moment, when a queer sensation began to wash over him. He glanced up at her and watched with curiosity as streams of pink energy travelled from his form back into whatever it was she was holding.

She had just removed the charm from him.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Preliminary Testing

Ahri waited nervously, uncomfortably aware of Vel'Koz' tentacles still grasping her tightly, and watched as his eyes twitched whilst her charm was slowly removed from him. She was still panting heavily when Vel'Koz slowly came to his senses after the insatiable lust that had been clouding his senses as a result of her magic had been withdrawn from him, and lowered her down below him so he could talk to her face.

He looked up into Ahri's eyes in confusion and paused for a short while. Ahri stayed silent, trying to calm her breathing.

" _What did you call the spell you had on me?"_

"It's… It's my charm. It's meant to immobilize people with desire, and make them susceptible to my wishes. Not… not cause what just happened." She seemed slightly embarrassed.

" _Why did you leave it on me?_ "

Ahri blushed noticeably and avoided his gaze for a couple of seconds, squirming against his hold. He grasped tighter to demonstrate that he wanted her to answer.

"Originally, I thought that I could… I could manipulate you to… to…" She sighed in resignation. "I wanted you to fuck me."

Vel'Koz cocked his head quizzically, wondering why, if that was so, she reacted so badly to him when he tried to force himself on her just earlier. Voicing this question, she bit her lip before telling him:

"I wanted to be in control of you while you did it, though. To make sure you didn't go too far with it. After a while I just forgot that I had it on you. I didn't expect that it'd get stronger, and drive you to try and do all of that stuff. It never did that with anyone else. I'm… I'm sorry for doing that. Just… let me down, and I'll leave you alone."

She looked dejected. Vel'Koz was surprised that she'd wanted to try to procreate with him. Did she really see him as one with great aesthetic merit? Looking back, all of the times she seemed to be acting uncomfortable with his contact seemed to make sense. He was still confused about something, however.

" _The spell effect should be completely removed now, correct?"_

"Well, yeah."

He steadily withdrew his tentacle from her torso and teased it across her stomach through the gap in her clothes. She shivered, but regained her composure quickly. He loosened his hold on her slightly, and she slumped against him, and he motioned as if to replace her back on the ground.

" _Well, that is strange,"_ he muttered. " _There can only be one explanation for this."_ Ahri noticed a mischievous gleam in his eye from the corner of her vision.

She sucked in her breath as Vel'Koz ripped off the cloth covering her torso, revealing her curved stomach and releasing her breasts from their fabric prison. He drew a tentacle around one of them and squeezed it, revelling in its soft feel. It was just like he'd imagined. She glanced swiftly over at him, eyes wide in astonishment as once more he tightened his grip on her body, slithering his tentacles all over her soft skin, stimulating the hairs, wrapping more and more of her body in himself.

" _As I still feel an overwhelming sense of desire for you. Apparently the spell never got stronger, but unlocked my own lust, wherein the two were only amplified by each other._ "

He raised her up in the air to the same height as she was before. Up in front of him, chest exposed, he could really appreciate what a fine biological specimen she was. Her skin was perfectly smooth from head to foot aside from the whisker-like markings on her face, and the addition of the flicking fox tails and ears only made him more aroused over such an exotic creature. Her hair hung down behind her, great black strands of silk that swayed as her head tilted back in pleasure. He had her supported at her back and shoulders by the appendage that was currently playing with her breasts, and another one that wrapped around her legs.

" _And considering what you did to me to make me feel this way, I am of the opinion that I deserve some compensation for my ordeal."_

He ran the tips of the tentacle near her legs over one of her tails, from the base near her lower back over to the tapering ends. Her body was slick from both her own sweat and his lubricated tentacles, so his appendages slipped around her body with ease. He wanted to explore every part of her, find what secrets she was hiding, but had to remove her lower clothes before he could properly begin.

" _If you feel I am going too far, tell me such, and I shall consider slowing down. However, you cannot stop me. You have been teasing me for far too long."_

"Please…" She moaned as the tentacle that had been playing with her tails now wrapped higher and higher around and between her thighs. He could feel the heat and moisture from here, his tentacle tips being extremely sensitive, and it only heightened his own excitement.

" _Begging won't help you anymore. This is happening whether you want it or not."_

She tilted her head up to him, tongue out, panting for breath, and locked her golden, dazed eyes with his. Her fluffy ears were standing up alertly, and Vel'Koz drew a tentacle up and brushed over them with it, having wrapped the upper end loosely around her neck, and marvelled at how soft the fur was. Meanwhile, he slowly drew her dress up her body from her waist, and began to tease at the final layer of somewhat wet fabric beneath that, running his tip over it back and forth, and noted the soft layer of shaven fur that lay just above and between her legs.

"Please… D-Don't stop…" She managed to get out between inflamed groans.

Vel'Koz was feeling decidedly exhilarated as, once more, he tilted her away from him and, intentionally slowly, forced her legs apart to reveal the soaking fabric covering her sex. Simultaneously, he had begun teasing her erect nipples methodically, running his tip over them, back and forth and round and round, giving each breast an equal amount of attention as he continued to squeeze them using the same tentacle's thick, more abrasive upper portion.

If he had lips, he would be licking them.

He could finally begin.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Goin' Up!

Before he could begin, Vel'Koz realised he needed a course of action. He didn't have much to go off, considering that, when he had once tried to force subjects to undergo mating rituals with each other, they just screamed a lot. He hadn't been able to observe (from afar) much of how the humans went about their mating either, considering they all appeared to partake in such activities away from vision inside their homes. This therefore led him to a strange realisation, in that he would have to trust his new-found instincts, and follow his own strange attraction for the enticing creature splayed out so seductively in front of him.

Forcing himself out of his reverie, he refocused his eye on Ahri. She was facing towards him, desire blatant in her eyes as she gazed at him longingly, waiting, willing for him to make the next move on her.

In somewhat of a drunken stupor of arousal, he reached over tentatively with an appendage and rubbed it lightly over the now soaking fabric between her legs. He looked up to gauge her response and noted her shuddering in delight, writhing against his grasp in ecstasy. He hadn't expect her to be this responsive, nor for him to have such a large effect on her so quickly.

Intriguing.

She had her eyes screwed shut, mouth hanging slightly open with her tongue lolling out. Seeing her lips parted in carnal passion like this was a catalyst for his next action; he knew what he should do next.

Continuing his constant stimulation further down her body, he slipped more of his tentacle round her neck so as to free up more length on the end, and then held the tip patiently in front of her mouth. Feeling the friction on her skin, she opened her eyes wide at the surprising intrusion in front of her face before she understood his intent, and opened her mouth wide with her tongue sticking out, begging him to enter her.

As the slick tip quested almost curiously inside, running over the wall of her cheek and playing playfully with her tongue, her eyes rolled back and her body went limp in his embrace as she reflexively began to suck on him, smooth cheeks drawn into a concave by the effort, willing him to carry on in. Vel'Koz went slowly, seeing no reason not to savour the experience, and gradually fed more and more of his appendage into her eager mouth and, eventually, started down her throat. Ahri initially seemed panicked as inch after inch slid round her neck and entered her mouth but, as he watched the bulge slowly travel down her throat, she realised she could still breath through her nose around it, and instead she revelled in its strangely bitter flavour, its slimy, wet texture, and above all else the exquisite sensation as more and more of it slipped down her throat; she groaned in bliss as he approached her stomach, relishing the feeling of being stuffed so completely. She must have been feeling quite heavy in her gut by the time he stopped feeding himself into her, and she seemed to almost be pushed over the edge from this alone.

For Vel'Koz, it was the strangest sensation. He found that he enjoyed feeling her body constricting his tentacles as he moved around inside her; he relished the experience of being completely dominant over her, having the power to dictate what he would do to her next, and her being unable to have any input in his actions. He didn't think he was feeling pleasure in the same way that she probably was, but merely observing her arched back and unfocused eyes, seeing her bulging throat, and knowing that he was causing all of it was satisfaction enough for him.

He wondered if he could create a substitute for the "semen" the male humans created as their reproductive method, thereby making the experience more authentic for her.

While he was pondering this, he began to draw his upper tentacle out of her, working against the muscles in her throat which seemed so eager to keep it down, making sure to slide against the roof of her mouth and lips as it slipped away, before pushing back in again, deliberately and deliciously slowly. As she adjusted to his rhythmic pumping, she swung an arm down to her thighs and feverishly pressed him in deeper to her mound, begging him to stop teasing her.

Painfully steadily, he decided to acquiesce to her request as he stopped rubbing his tip against the fabric covering her, and instead snuck slyly underneath it, pressing himself against her folds, feeling his tentacle slide across her with ease due to their combined lubrication. He felt her hand press down on him harder, and she whimpered in delight as he slid across her nub and back again, stimulating it for a fraction of a second. Her whole body was under tension, toes curled up, shoulders hunched against him as her breaths came in faster and faster pants. He had no set pattern as to what he was doing, no constant rhythm to his teasing, so each slight stroke was a complete surprise to her, and she seemed to be lost in his touches as he applied a bit of pressure onto her, having her expect him to enter, before, to her dismay pulling away and repeating it again elsewhere.

He hadn't been going on for very long when he felt her shudder beneath him, quivers wracking her body as she approached climax from the unwavering stimulation he was giving her. As he wrapped the delicate, tiny tip of his limb around her nub, and squeezed it playfully, her final wall of resistance was shattered completely, and she cried out and clenched as she reached her peak. Ahri bucked involuntarily against his hold as the avalanche of pleasure and release smashed against her and, though he was many times larger than her, he was surprised at how much of an effort it was to keep her legs and torso bound tightly as she convulsed over and over again, thrusting her hips against him with fervour, eyes clenched tightly together and jaw clamping down on him in an effort to not scream out. Her tails were wrapped around him, holding him in place against her with astounding strength for how delicate they appeared. His tentacle, still grasping lightly onto her clit, was completely soaked from her orgasm, and as she seemed to come down he drew away from her, extracting himself from her throat and mouth with a wet pop to give her some time to breathe, strings of saliva connecting him to her parted lips. He also retreated from between her thighs slightly to allow her to regain full control over her body as she came down off her wave of bliss, but he remained hovering near her legs almost menacingly, a constant promise of another round of attention that would be soon to follow.

Breathless, she glanced shyly up at him, a vaguely stunned look on her face. Her mouth curled up into a toothy grin, and he noted the shiny, damp sheen on her forehead from where she'd been sweating, the red hue to her cheeks, and the hungry look that remained in her golden eyes. She was still breathing heavily by the time she could articulate a sentence out of the shattered pieces of her bliss-ravaged brain.

"D…damn," she croaked as a bead of liquid, whether sweat or otherwise, trickled down from between her thighs. "That was… that was amazing."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Batten down the hatches, boys...

Vel'Koz had decided to leave Ahri for a while, to allow her time to adjust to the diminishing shockwaves and after-effects of the orgasm that had just racked her fragile frame, and let her fit together the shards of her bliss addled brain. He eagerly awaited the time where she would regain some of her lost lucidity and coherence, and her usual sense of composure.

Meanwhile, he had some time to wonder about the origins of his emotions about the fox-girl once again. It was with a jolt that he perceived that he no longer cared. Whether as a direct or indirect result of her spell, it didn't matter to him any more. That wasn't to say that knowledge acquisition no longer interested him, rather that when it came to Ahri he found there was a lot more to be intrigued by than mere understanding. He relished the view of her soft skin around her belly rising and falling with gradually decreasing frequency, the tails which swept playfully out behind her in countless sweeping arcs, and above all else those deep golden pools of her eyes that simultaneously betrayed both everything about her and nothing at all. His thoughts were all messy blurs of fur and skin and gold, all of which were coalesced into what now lay before him, trapped in his embrace.

Returning his attention back to her, he then registered a soft pattering sound coming from below on the ground. Could it be raining again? He didn't feel any water dropping onto his body.

It was with no small degree of amusement when he uncovered the source of the sound and traced it back up to the origin; she was still soaking wet and, with nowhere else to go, the fluid was slipping out from between her thighs and dropping down to the floor beneath them. Ahri looked strangely self conscious about the treachery of her own biology, though Vel'Koz found it incredibly arousing that she was ready for him so soon after she had climaxed.

Without a word, he untangled his tentacle from around both her legs, winding it back until all that remained holding her up was a single thick appendage that held her tightly by the upper body, just underneath her breasts. Perceiving this as a sign that their fun had come to an abrupt end, a brief look of disappointment flashed across her face before being swiftly replaced by one of astonishment as he tilted her round so that her legs were pointing down towards the ground once more. Then, almost sneakily, he began to slide each of his two remaining tentacles around her feet individually, coiling up gradually towards her inner thigh, as a pair of snakes would slither towards a shared prey. Her head tilted back and her arms went limp as she purred and rubbed up against him and, all too soon, he was approaching her sex, slowly but surely closing the distance. This would have to be amended.

He decreased his speed of progression to a sluggish pace, and glanced up to gauge her reaction. At first, she didn't seem to notice his decrease in pace being too occupied by the intrusion in her mouth but, as she became aware of the lapse in progress, she made a noise that lay somewhere ambiguously between a purr and a moan, showing her distaste. When nothing changed about the speed with which he climbed her leg, she evidently decided to take matters into her own hand and, moving both hands round, she attempted to pull him up her legs quicker, hands grasping feverishly and being unable to find any purchase, so sliding instantly off his slick skin. This, he rewarded with stopping altogether.

The more she tried to force him up, the tighter he gripped her legs, until she was writhing against him in a strange mixture of annoyance and lustful expectation. Having found no success in getting him to continue with his advance, she instead changed tactics and moved her hands down to rub over her labia with every intent to alleviate her aching arousal herself.

Noting this with mild irritation, his tentacles around her legs whipped out and grasped her hands in an iron hold before they could reach their destination, before forcing them over and pinning them to her sides, before he slid over them with past his tips, thereby locking her hands against her whilst allowing himself to move on his final destination in this endeavour if he so desired.

His denial of any progress whatsoever infuriated her to no end. He listened as her breathing increased in frequency, air huffing in and out of her nose and mouth with increasing regularity. Vel'Koz wanted to hear her admission of what she wanted him to do, wanted her to beg for him to continue, though it pained him to be in such proximity to her most erogenous zones without being able to do anything at all. However, he suspected his teasing was worse for Ahri than for him.

He didn't have to wait long. Ahri growled up at him, longing and intent evident in her features, and in the way she continued to grind up in vain towards him.

"Please… just..." she lapsed off into silence, almost as if she were too embarrassed to finish the sentence.

Vel'Koz drew himself closer to her and tilted his head towards her mouth.

" _Hmmm? I didn't quite catch that. It appears my aural organs aren't functioning at full capacity. Could you please repeat that a little louder?_ "

He was probably enjoying this far too much.

She sighed deeply and scrunched her eyes shut, hiding her reddened face from his view. She was still clearly quite absent-minded as a result of her own libido, and she obviously knew what she had to do to get him to continue with his intimate exploration of her body. All he wanted was to hear the request in her own words, and he could pick up where he'd left off. He wanted it as much as she did, if not more, yet managed by some obscene force of willpower to hold himself back, and lingered impatiently in the background.

Ultimately, her relentless, agonizing arousal overcome the hesitance evoked by her wounded pride in her complete submission to his whims. He could almost see her will bending, see her surrendering herself to him as her desire overcome her. It was almost too much to bear. Letting out another sigh of defeat, she opened her eyes again and stared right at him, her eyes now showing only a steely resolve.

"Please. I want you to… to fuck me." The verbal recognition of this request that had gone unspoken for all this time, yet was somehow disconcerting to put into words, lead her cheeks to turn an even deeper shade of crimson.

Hmm. It was adorably cliché, but it was a good enough admission for him.

Besides, he didn't think he'd be able to restrain himself for even a second longer.

Rather abruptly, he continued his ascent of her thighs towards ground zero. As he did this, he lifted his last remaining tentacle and, without hesitation or any former implication, he thrust it towards her lips and forced his way through the negligible amount of resistance she put up against him. Immediately upon entry, he quested left and right until he found her tongue, before he started wrestling it back and forth as if he were battling for control of the territory inside her mouth. Needless to say, Ahri was losing ground by the second, though somewhat unsurprisingly she didn't seem to mind that much.

As his appendages arrived concurrently at her sex, he wasted no time in getting to action; pressing a tip down on either side of her labia he applied slight pressure in opposing directions, giving him his first intoxicating glimpse of her soaking inner folds. This sudden contact that Ahri had sought for so long, the almost rewarding nature for her bowing to his will, acted as a trigger for her lust, and she bucked against him with renewed animosity, breath hitching in her throat at every slight brush of contact.

Vel'Koz was somewhat taken aback by the vigour with which she took to his actions. Each of her subtle responses almost goaded him on to further their ritualistic interactions, from her passionate moans down to the smallest flick of her ears, daring him to raise the stakes. Though she wasn't looking at him, and instead was gazing up idly into space, the look on her face almost dared him to continue, to claim her as his own in the most intimate way possible. Each of them was complicit in the other's desires; Ahri's tongue had been locked with the tentacle that resided in her mouth for a short time now, both having long since given up the fight for control and instead lavished in the other's proximity. He had since given up the pretence that he only savoured the absolute control over her, though truth be told it _was_ a major factor in his enjoyment. He couldn't lie to himself any more by ignoring what all the signs pointed to, couldn't pretend that his foremost desire wasn't to mate with the creature before him. The mere admission of this fact to himself was both thrilling and terrifying. Where but a short time ago he would have found these alien desires abhorrent, and shunned any such primitive method of reproduction, at this point his only hope was that these emotions did not disappear on the tide of his lust which would, inevitably ebb.

While his intentions could only be for mating, there was still the logistical issues to tackle for such an event to take place. First and foremost of these was the semen substitute which, at least for him, was an absolute necessity, considering he wanted their mating to be as authentic as possible. Then again, with his strange physique, he didn't know if it were even possible to get anywhere close to authenticity, but there would be no harm in trying. Maybe he could try an alternative approach; he'd gained enough data based on organic multiplication to have a general idea as to the different approaches he could take.

The second hurdle was that eventual aim of the ritual of mating; reproduction. While Vel'Koz understood that it was a statistical impossibility given they were both so physiologically different, and not least that they originated from different planes of existence, the idea of impregnating her was… dangerously exciting, if extremely far-fetched.

Putting the creation of his seed on the back burner, forcing his addled mind to develop it in the background, down deep in his subconscious, he returned his now somewhat diverted attention to Ahri, who was squirming in his grasp and grinding up against him with increasing regularity and desperation. Having continued his constant probing whilst he had been phased out, she was nearing orgasm once again- in a surprisingly small amount of time, at that. He knew then that all it would take was the smallest action, a slight brush of her cheek or rub of her clit and she'd be sent tumbling over the precipice into the reckless abandon of climax.

Though it was a tempting prospect to allow her to get off just like before, he had other plans for her. It was difficult to convince himself to stop, but knowing that, whilst it was aggravating in the short term, eventually it may lead into more interesting pursuits, he allowed himself to justify his decision and, somewhat selfishly, he disengaged himself from her sex, pulling away from her mouth as well, their only connection now being the strands of fluid that ran like a lifeline between them. Gasping at the sudden lack of contact, her labia twitching and swollen, she focused back on him in confusion. Having been so close to being overcome by pleasure, having felt that tantalizing finishing line and having it torn so cruelly away must have been maddening. As the satisfying sensations were swiftly replaced by excruciating lust as her body was denied its rewarding rush of endorphins it craved, her perplexity evaporated swiftly into a cold fury. Righteous fire smouldered in her eyes, and she glared defiantly up at him, teeth bared in frustration.

In hindsight, he realised he was being rather callous.

Clearly, Ahri was of the same opinion.

"Why the _fuck_ did you stop? I was so _close!"_ He could almost envision the venom flying at him, spitting from her tongue.

Wordlessly, he drew one of the tentacle's tips into her peripheral vision beneath her and watched her focus instantly shift to it, fury replaced with thrilling recognition. He made sure to point it directly up at her sex before allowing it to curve away back into his body so as to make his intent self evident.

" _My apologies. I merely wanted to attempt something new."_

Her tails flicked coyly behind her as she looked pensive for a short time. She seemed to be contemplating something deeply and was taking a while about it, but Vel'Koz could wait: for his first ever mate, he could wait for as long as he needed to, even despite his own insatiable hunger. Eventually, Ahri started talking hesitantly, clearly quite preoccupied by her own libido.

"I'm not gonna lie… I'm really goddamn horny," she seemed to wince at the slightly vulgar term, even though the statement was self evident. "But… it's… It's been a while, and I'm not sure how much I can take. You're… you're pretty big." She shook her head, her blush deepening, accentuating her whiskers and making her face glow a bright red as she appraised him once more. "Listen, what I'm trying to say is, go easy on me. Go slowly at first." She blinked, comprehending that Vel'Koz was under no particular obligation to heed her request. "P… Please."

Nodding in idle affirmation, he gazed down at her. The confidence that she had been exuding but minutes before as he had been teasing her had melted away, leaving her as shy and anxious as if this were her first time mating. However, he doubted that could be true; such a beautiful, enticing creature such as this could have any male she wished for, even despite her abnormalities. How could she have not done something like this before?

" _Of course. If it gets too much for you, please tell me. I might get a bit… overzealous, if I'm not careful."_

Looking slightly less terrified than before he said those words since she now understood that she had some small control over he situation, yet still clearly feeling slightly apprehensive, she swallowed deeply, before nodding slightly and turning her face away from him as she had but minutes ago. Vel'Koz paused before bringing one of his tentacles to her face and, cupping her chin in his hand, feeling her shiver at his contact, he nudged her head back towards him so that he could gaze upon her face once again. Their eyes met, his with calm stoicism and hers with mild panic deep within them. He stared unflinching at her for a while as she bit her lip and looked slightly ashamed about something unknown to him. It didn't take much time until, quite suddenly, she seemed to resolve whatever she had been debating about internally. Anxiety and apprehension gradually thawed into a carefully curious aura permeated by a diluted version of that same lust that she had been succumbing to before, and she nodded once again, but with a lot more surety of purpose than her first lacklustre attempt at initiation of their mating. Her slender hands reached out beneath her, long since having been freed from their restraint, and positioned themselves around him, ready to guide him inside of her. He could feel her hands shaking, whether with anticipation or otherwise, as they closed around his slick appendage, and he noted with amusement that the drops of essence that fell from between her thighs were splashing all over him, getting him completely drenched once again.

She was ready.

 _(Memer's note:_

 _This chapter was a bitch to write, considering I'd completed the entire goddamn thing then accidentally saved over it with only an incomplete version of the final few paragraphs, having uploaded it to this fucking site and mistakenly, though not unreasonably, assuming that the system had processed my request. Imagine my dismay when I found that the chapter hadn't registered on my doc manager. I've enabled backups now, so it shouldn't happen again, but still, it was fucking annoying writing 3000 or so words and losing them all._

 _Anyway it's here now, so whatever._

 _It's at this point I'd like to ask for you guys' input in the story. If you've made it this far, you either just read this chapter on its own and skipped to the end, in which case whatever, I can't really force you to read it. If you're actually interested and have read the entire thing, I'd like to know where you want things to go from here. I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete. I'm kinda just making things up as I go._

 _If I've made any spelling or grammatical errors, please do inform me of them. They're a bitch to iron out._

 _Oh, and sorry for the long delay. I only really write this shit when I'm horny and have nothing else to do, cause it feels too weird writing about kinky tentacle sex when I'm not as aroused as the characters._

 _Too much information? Good. Anyway, you're in no position to judge; you're reading about fucking tentacle sex. I think at this point there's no such thing as "too much" information._

 _Anyway, now I'm rambling. That's pretty much it. Adiós.)_


End file.
